Who needs Hell?
by Awayward
Summary: Sam's powers didn't just dissapear, they stayed with him until the angels came a-callin'. Set mid-season 6, after Sam gets his soul back, but before the wall breaks. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody! First off, I am NOT abandoning the Merlin fic, but this one was bouncing around in my head and making it really hard to write anything else, so I had to get it out. If it gets a good response, then I'll keep it going! If not, then I'll focus on The Fated Few and return to this later. Kept it pretty short since I'm just testing it out on y'all.**

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Another state, another crappy motel room. Sam was completely unfazed by the obnoxious wallpaper and suspicious stains on the carpet. It's just like the last one they'd stayed in, and is probably just like the next.

"Sam! Did you get my pie?"

Sam rolled his eyes, not at all surprised by his brother's greeting. The only reason he had gone out in the first place was to get Dean some pie, so of course half way back to the motel he realized he had forgotten it. It had been a long day! A 12 hour car ride across several states with Dean acting like a PMSing girl had completely frayed his nerves. So fine, he'd forgotten the pie. What. Ever.

"Yes, I've got your pie, Dean. God, it was like the only thing I had to get!" He harrumphed indignantly, throwing the plastic bag full of impulse buys down on the rickety dresser. Sam's "impulse buys" consisted of beer, cereal, milk, and a couple of porn mags to keep Dean off his case when he was using the laptop. The only things two bachelor hunters needed.

"Well, you've forgotten it before! You're like... you're like... What's that fish's name, from the disney flick?"

"What the hell Dean? Since when do you watch Disney?!" Sam nearly dropped his pie box, he was so surprised. Then he became vaguely disgusted as he considered exactly what Dean might be doing during a kid's film.

"It was like, Ben's favorite movie!" Dean snapped, very much on the defensive, "He watched it all the- Dory! That's the fish, Dory!"

"Right, well, here's your freakin' pie, Nemo," Sam tossed the box at his brother and flopped down onto his bed, snatching the remote from the bedside table and flipping through channels on the rabbit-eared television. He intentionally skipped the porn channels just to annoy Dean, but his brother was too busy inhaling his pie to notice.

"So, what's this job again?" Dean mumbled, spewing sticky crumbs all over his out-dated bed spread.

"Uhm," Sam rolled over and dug around in his duffel bag, producing a crumpled up newspaper clipping with coffee rings over the title.

""7-year-old preacher's daughter attempts to gouge parents' eyes out, claims the devil made her do it," No previous physiological issues, and, get this, they found a massive amount of sulfur under the girl's bed,"

"So... a possession?"

"Looks like," Sam replied. He was turning back to the TV when a soft fluttering noise drew his attention to the doorway. Two smartly dressed men stood looking at them. Sam leapt off the bed, and Dean only had time to look up from his pie when one man stepped forward,

"Sam, Dean. How are you?"

Dean just sat there in stunned silence, until the situation processed and his face turned a startling shade of crimson,

"How are we? How are we? Dammit, Cas, we haven't seen you for months! Where the hell have you been?" Dean looked furious, actually putting down his food and storming over to the angel.

"That's close enough, human," The other angel snapped. Sam had never seen this member of the heavenly host before. He was Oriental, with hair shaved to a buzz cut and a small goatee sprouting on his chin. He dressed much the same as the other angels: business casual in pressed black dress pants and a tucked-in white button up. He was also at least 5 inches shorter than everyone else in the room.

"Who is this guy?" Dean snapped, looking as though a giant spider had just crawled into the room, "He looks like he should be teaching thermonuclear physics, not running around with the God Squad,"

For the second time that evening, Sam arched an eyebrow at his brother, "Do you even know what thermonuclear physics is?"

"Of course I do! It's about studying... physics, and... nuclear stuff," Dean looked completely blank.

"If we could focus," Cas interrupted, looking impatient, "This is not a social visit,"

"Is it ever?" Dean muttered under his breath, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Cas ignored him, "This is Puriel. he- "

"Puriel?" Dean snorted, "Seriously? What is he, the patron saint of virginity?"

"He examines the souls of those sent to heaven after death," Castiel finished, and Sam had to suppress a snigger as Dean's mouth hung open

"I've also been described as "fiery" and "pitiless," if that's of any help to you," the short angel suddenly seemed much more intimidating to the two brothers, especially Sam. There was a gleam in his eyes that made the taller Winchester very nervous.

"Well, nice to meet you, but what do you want?" Dean went and sat back on his bed, looking fed up with this conversation already.

"We want Sam," Puriel said flatly, tilting his head and examining Sam as though he were under a microscope.

"What for? We're both kind of hot commodities right now, we might be busy," Dean pulled out a knife and started cleaning under his fingernails, as though there weren't two extremely powerful angels staring at him as if contemplating setting him on fire.

"Dean, quit," Sam hissed, glaring daggers at his brother. He was just as fed up with the angel's bullshit, but that didn't mean he wasn't still wary of them.

"We do not require both of you. We only have a use for Sam's... special skills,"

"What, hunting? Dean's been doing it longer and better than me, why not him?" Sam was thoroughly confused. Ok, maybe they were pretty evenly matched as hunters, but since when does an angel need a human to take care of the supernatural?

"Aw, thanks Sammy. I didn't know you cared," Dean wiped away a fake tear.

"Not hunting. Your premonitions. Your... abilities tied to the demon blood in your veins," Castiel didn't seem to notice how hard those words hit the brothers. Dean finally stopped cleaning his nails and looked like he was about to take this all seriously, standing up and crossing his arms with a wary look at Sam. Sam's jaw just dropped, and he stood there like an idiot until he figured out how to make his mouth work again.

"But, you're the ones who said to stop using it! You practically threatened to have me killed if I didn't! And anyways, it's gone now. I haven't had a single vision or pulled a demon in like a year!" He couldn't believe that after all the hell he went through, the withdrawal and shame and fear, they were asking him to do it all again. After the yellow-eyed demon, after Ruby. Especially after Ruby. The only thing his abilities had ever done for him was carve a huge rift between him and his brother and free freaking Lucifer from his cage. He had less than no desire to bring those dormant powers back into his life.

"The demon blood is still in you, therefore so is your power," Puriel said harshly, "You have simply buried it away, as you should have done from the very beginning."

"Hey! It's buried now, and you're telling me to dig it back up? No dice!"

At this, Dean stepped in front of his little brother and puffed his chest out, glaring down the two angels.

"We have both been there and done that. It didn't end well. So how bout you two get your asses out of here before I make you,"

"We do not require either of your permission. Sam will help us, one way or another,"

"Please Dean," Castiel, a shadow of his former self flashing in his eyes, "If you'd both cooperate, we can make this as painless as possible for him,"

Dean looked long and hard into Castiel's eyes, trying to find the truth hidden in them. They had been so close once, but that trust was gone, and all he saw was another angel trying to manipulate them. Again.

"The only way to take him is if you take me too," He said finally, tearing his eyes from Castiel and turning the full force of his glare on Puriel.

The angel stared back with an almost hungry look on his face, which quickly morphed into a sly grin,

"As you wish," He said, pressing his fingers hard onto both boys foreheads.

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**Ok, let me know what you think! Remember, no response, no new chapters. Unless it sucks. Even if it does I still like reviews! Pwetty pwetty pwease?**

**I got "Puriel" off of wikipedia, so I'm pretty dubious as to his true function in heaven, or if he's even actually an angel, but the name was funny so I went with it! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Well it looks like y'all didn't like how they just nixed Sam's powers either! Or you're just really nice and followed my story, either way, y'all rock.**

**So I usually try to post much better chapters than this, but Ch. 2 is refusing to cooperate, so I guess we're stuck with this. Don't worry, the next few chapters should be up to par (I hope).**

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They appeared in a old warehouse, complete with boarded up windows and rusty pipes hanging from the ceiling.

"Nice. Way to break the stereotype. You know I was starting to think that you guys had run out of new ideas, but now- "

"Shut up," Puriel said, snapping his fingers at the older Winchester. Immediately Dean's mouth was glued shut, rendering him unable to do anything but grunt.

Sam shot a hateful look at the two angels, "You want me to use my powers? You need to give me some incentive. Why can't you do this? You are angels after all, why do you need a human's help?"

The celestial beings glanced at each other, one looking concerned, the other, malicious,

"The information we need is demonic in nature, and therefore inaccessible to us. A monster like you, however, has access," Puriel said this with a curl to his lip, as though discussing something filthy.

"Ok, I'm gonna ignore that. All I can to is exorcize demons, and I know for a fact that you guys can do that, no problem,"

"We do not need you to fight demons," Castiel said, stepping forward, "We need you to see their plans for the future,"

Dean shouted past the seal on his lips, outraged at the request. Those visions freaking hurt! He knew that, and he also knew that his little brother had no control over those damn things. He glanced over at his brother, who looked as though he had just been shocked with a taser, "What, my visions? But-"

"There will be no buts," Puriel's patience was waning, "However ridiculous this may be, we do require your assistance. Now," With a clap of his hands, Dean found himself shackled to a wall with his brother about 30 feet down, similarly chained, "shall we begin?"

Dean yanked against the chains, knowing there was no way he was busting out of them, but the action made him feel better. He again tried to speak past his gag, intending on throwing some beautiful insults, but all that came out were muffled grunts, resulting in sounds that bordered on the neanderthal.

"Could you at least un-gag him now? He's chained to a wall, what's he gonna do?" Sam was getting tired of the angelic bullshit. They would make him use his powers, he knew that, but listening to his brother choke on his own swearing was a step too far.

Puriel sighed dramatically, "Oh, fine. But if you annoy me," He said, appearing in front of Dean and looking him in the eye, "I'll take your mouth off completely," With a second snap of his fingers, Dean's lips came unglued.

"Douchebag," Was the first word out of his mouth, followed by several more vulgar phrases that would have made Lucifer blush (and they would know).

"Dean, you are in the presence of servants of the Lord. Perhaps you could mind your tongue," Castiel said mildly, a small hint of amusement playing about his eyes.

"Ignore the ape," Puriel gestured over to Sam, "There is work to be done,"

Any look of mirth disappeared from Castiel's face as he turned to Sam, who looked back defiantly,

"Tell me what's going on, and I'll work with you. You haven't even told us what I'm supposed to be looking for!"

Castiel looked troubled, but the moment soon passed and the look gave way to one of an emotionless soldier.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Cas reached forward and placed a palm on each of Sam's temples, and he immediately felt a headache coming on.

"Ugh," He grunted, trying to fight it off.

"Sam! Sammy, come on. It's fine, you'll be fine. Breathe through it, brother," Dean strained even harder against the shackles, needing to be by his brother's side. Really, there was nothing he could do but spout stupid reassurances as Sam rode through the waves of pain, but he would rather be useless and unshackled than useless and bound.

"No, no it's fine it's fine," Sam dropped to his knees, cradling his head. The pressure in his skull was so intense he felt sure that his brains were about to decorate the wall behind him. This headache was worse than the usual migraine that accompanied his visions. Maybe that was due to the forced nature of it, or he could just be rusty. Either way, the reasoning ceased to matter as the warehouse faded away and was replaced by something else entirely.

"What- what the hell?" Sam spluttered. He was watching a man walk through a red-tinged hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. The man wore a business suit covered in dust and creases, and carried what looked to be... a hatchet. He strode down the hallway as though headed towards something, although Sam could see nothing but an endless stretch of bare hallway. On and on he walked, the hallway staying so bare that it was hard to tell if any distance was being covered at all. But there was something... behind the wall. Hiding. Waiting to be freed...

The vision cut off, leaving Sam panting on the floor, covered in sweat. He waited a moment before slowly lifting his head, searching for Dean, but instead his vision was filled by the two angels.

"What did you see?" Castiel looked at him clinically, squatting down to look at him eye to eye. Puriel gave no such curtesy, remaining on his feet to tower over the man and the angel with crossed arms.

"Um... there was this guy... he was walking down a hallway, and ah... he had a weapon. I don't know, nothing happened. What was I looking at?" Sam was slowly regaining his breath, and was starting to have the energy to be pissed.

"You don't need to know, just tell us what you saw. Down to the last detail," Castiel refused to give any information, instead squatting there as impassive as he was when the Winchesters had first met him.

"Come on, man. How can he tell you if he doesn't even know what he saw?" Dean pleaded, knowing Sam needed to just chill for an hour or two to get his head back on straight. He had a bad feeling that this wasn't the only vision he would be forced to have.

"We could just take it from his mind," Puriel said, rolling up his shirtsleeve and crouching down in front of Sam.

"Puriel," Finally, Castiel broke his steely composure, "there's no need for that. Sam will tell us without such... unpleasantries,"

"This way is cleaner, anyways," Puriel thrust his hand into the side of Sam's head, just above his left ear. White light began to emanate from the point of contact, eliciting a sharp scream from the younger Winchester.

"Sammy! Knock it off, you dick! Just let him go!" Dean's wrists began to bleed from the metal cuffs cutting into his skin as he struggled even harder to get to his brother, whose face was contorted in pain as Puriel's arm reached into his skull all the way up to his elbow.

"GET OUT!" He screamed, clawing at the exposed part of the angle's arm, trying to rip the thing out of his head.

"Puriel! This is unnessesary. You'll damage him!" Castiel finally intervened, a flicker of his old friendship breaking through his steely composure.

"Almost... got it..." Puriel muttered, completely unfazed by his brothers words, "There!"

Puriel yanked his arm out of Sam's head, leaving the man to collapse on the floor, shaking and groaning.

"Sammy?" Dean called softly, needing his brother to respond.

"Uuuungh," the only reply was a groan. Sam pulled his arms around his head and squeezed, trying to push away the feeling of a drill in his skull. It had felt like a giant hole had been opened up in his brain, leaving his thoughts exposed like raw nerves. The worst part wasn't the physical pain, although that had sucked balls, but the mental strain of having all his thoughts and memories floating free in the air was unbearable.

"Here we go," Puriel held a small white ball of light in his palm. Taking his other hand, he carefully pulled at it until a chunk came off, forming an identical ball in his other palm.

"Humans are so simple, so scared of everything. You cage up your mind like it's a rabid animal, a zoo creature too ugly to be viewed by the public. You keep everything so tightly shut that when we need to do things like this," He nodded his head to the light he was holding, "It just about tears you to pieces. I'm glad you're made tougher than the average ape, Sam. I don't think your Average Joe would have survived it,"

Sam kept his arms around his head, more of a protective stance now as the pain slowly, slowly started to recede, blessed order returning to his mind.

"Let's see what you saw," Puriel tossed one of the balls of light, Sam's memory of the vision, to Castiel, and together the angels pressed it into their foreheads. They grimaced for a moment as the new information settled itself, but soon their faces relaxed and Puriel actually smiled.

"Very good, Samuel. Very good indeed. But you'll have to give us more than that if we're going to stop those demons. For now, though, we'll leave you be,"

"Wait!" Dean yelled as the angels were about to disappear, "What did you do to his head? To his memories? What about the wall?" Death had told him any messing around with Sam's head could break that wall down, leaving his brother a broken mess. Dean was going to be royally pissed if an angel, of all things, broke his brother.

"His memories, and the wall, are intact," Castiel said, "We do not cause more pain than is necessary," He shot a pointed look at his brother, so seemed unfazed by the reminder.

"Yes, call it our little gift," He said with a shrug, "It's easier to just copy his memories, anyways. Ripping them out is too... messy,"

Dean blinked, and the angels were gone, leaving him alone with his slowly stirring psychic brother.

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**Blech. That was painful. Oh! My keyboard was being stupid, like typing double letters and putting extra spaces and such where I did NOT want them, so please excuse any structural errors.**

**I'm not gonna let another crap chapter get by me, so it may be a little while before the next one is up. I'm gonna edit the hell out of it ^_^ so be patient, and stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again! Long time no see! I'm planning on wrapping this story up by chapter 5 or so; I'm wanting to keep this one pretty short and sweet. Hope y'all enjoy!**

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Dean knocked his head against the wall, waiting for his brother to start talking. Sam had righted himself and now sat leaning against the wall, but was still breathing heavily and kept his eyes closed.

"Sam? What was that? What did they make you see?"

Sam grunted and flapped a hand in his brother's general direction dismissively, making Dean's temper flare,

"Don't just wave your hand like it's all ok! Cas just friggin Vulcan mind-melded your brain, and you look like Casper the hungover ghost! So tell me what they're making you do,"

"Could you tone down the references a little?" Sam rolled his head over to look at Dean, a smile twitching on his sweaty, nasty face.

"Never, you'd miss them too much," Dean gave his classic goofball grin, hoping to keep Sam's good mood going. Or, not-depressingly-pessimistic mood, at any rate, "You gonna tell me what the hell happened?"

"Um," Sam straightened up against the wall, looking a little stronger, "a guy in a hallway. It made absolutely no sense. I don't even know what to tell you,"

"So wait, the angels kidnap us, chain us to a wall, force you to have a head-splitting vision, and they make you watch a guy walk down a hallway? What's their angle?"

"No clue," Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, "But I doubt that was the only vision they'll make me have,"

"Well if all you saw was some dude in a hallway, I'd say you're right," Dean frowned, eyebrows pinching together, "We need to get out of here,"

"No shit, Sherlock,"

**Supernatural**

From what Dean could tell, it was only a couple hours before the angels came in again. That's what his watch said, but who knew where those dicks had poofed them. They could be in some sort of timeless vacuum for all he knew.

The men strode back into the room, one with a grim expression, the other's simply determined. Dean glanced down the wall at his brother, who had dozed off not too long ago, to see him jerk awake and look around blearily.

"Sorry to disturb you," Puriel said, coming to a stop in front of Sam, "But we need more information,"

"He's not really sorry. I just made him say that to be polite," Castiel piped up at random, looking at Dean out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, good to see your brief time with us left you with some manners," Dean was unimpressed with Cass' attempt at companionship, "Now let us out of here,"

"I'm afraid we can't do that. Sam still has some information to get us," Puriel squatted down in front of Sam, looking him in the eye, "Perhaps something more substantial this time, hm?"

"I don't control these things, you guys know that. I see what I see, that's it," Sam squirmed to sit up straighter against the wall, meeting Puriel's gaze without fear.

Dean gave his brother hell frequently. Actually, more often than not he was being a jerk and picking on Sam's various intellectual hoo-hah and random Google-facts, but he never really forgot how damn stubborn his kid brother could be. He loved it.

"Then this is going to take quite a bit longer," Puriel pressed his palm onto Sam's forehead, grabbing his neck with the other hand when Sam tried to struggle. The young hunter gasped as his world faded away and was replaced with another.

"Let go of him, you bastard! Come on, you're not powerful enough to find this stuff yourself? Cowards!" Dean could do nothing but shout abuses at the angel as he watched his brother grimace in pain and clutch his head as a vision assailed his senses.

"We are not cowards," Puriel straightened up, now focusing on Dean, "We are the purest, most powerful beings in all of creation. We are the army of the Lord, and you, human, will not deny us,"

"You're not real big on modesty, huh?" Dean snapped. He would have continued, but at that moment Sam yelped and scrambled against the wall, looking around with wild eyes.

"Sammy?" Dean called, scooting to the limit of the chains to get closer to his brother.

"What- what is this? I can't- what are you doing?!" Sam yelled, a horrified look on his face. Sam lashed out, punching at an unseen enemy.

"Sam, what do you see? What's happening?" Castiel reached for Sam's temples. Dean hoped he was going to stop this vision. Whatever was going on inside Sam's head, it wasn't good. Cas reached out to touch Sam's face, but almost immediately jerked back when Sam swung wildly at his face,

"Get away from me! Don't touch me!" From the glazed look in his eyes, Dean guessed he was still in the vision, with no idea what was going on around him.

"Get him out of it! Cas, help him!" Dean shouted, standing and straining against his bonds like a bull, "How the hell is he supposed to help you if he's delusional?"

"Puriel," Cas said, stepping back to let the greater angel do his work.

"Sam," Puriel said, roughly gripping him by the hair, "Look at me, Sam," Puriel jerked Sam's head back until he was forced to look at the angel. As their eyes met, a light shone from Puriel's eyes and Sam stiffened, cutting of mid-shout. A tense moment passed, then Sam's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor, twitching.

"Dammit! What happened?" Dean demanded, unsure if the angel had just helped or harmed his brother.

"I extracted the vision. Somehow the demons have managed to detect any form of supernatural surveillance and attack through the link," Puriel frowned, "We'll have to report this immediately,"

"Perhaps we should ensure Sam's health, first," Castiel said mildly, but Dean caught a slight flicker of worry in his eyes. Maybe that angel wasn't hopeless after all.

"Damn straight! You fix him, you fix him now!"

Puriel glanced at the still twitching Sam and shrugged, "The effects should be temporary. He'll be fine in a minute,"

With a flutter of wings, Puriel vanished. Dean assumed he had gone to narc to his superiors, whoever the hell they were.

"Cas, what in the hell is going on? Talk to me, man!"

Castiel stared at Dean for a long moment, conflict clouding his usually clear eyes, then spoke,

"The war between heaven and hell is going badly. Somehow the demons are always one step ahead of us, claiming souls and wreaking havoc everywhere before we can gather a squadron. We think they've got someone in the garrison working with them, keeping us blind while they darken the earth with their filth. We are hoping your brother will be able to tell us who it is,"

Dean stared at Cas in disbelieve, "Can't you just torture a demon until he talks? Why does Sam have to do this?"

"We do not have the resources," Cas said stiffly, as if admitting something embarrassing.

"You don't have- ? Cas, you have all of heaven! How do you not have the resources?"

"Because my acts of rebellion seem to have inspired others to follow, and the number of angels willing to fight have dwindled. They have gone into hiding, and we are stretched thin in an attempt to keep the demons at bay. That is how,"

Dean did something very uncharacteristic, and thought about this new information in silence for several minutes. From what he understood, the angels were losing, and it was Cas' fault. The angels were losing because some felt encouraged by Cas' friendship with them, so it was also their fault by extension.

"Cas, if you had just told us, we would have helped. Really, we would have. But this ball and chain stuff is bullshit. I mean you're torturing Sammy for information that he didn't even know he could get, and now the demons are getting in his friggin' brain because you guys couldn't get your crap together! So how bout a little slack, huh?"

Castiel's expression remained blank, "I am sorry if we have caused you or your brother discomfort, Dean,"

"Yeah? Then go fix Sam," Dean nodded his head over to where his brother lay, no longer twitching, but still unconscious.

"As Puriel said, he will be-"

"Fix him NOW!" Dean yelled, losing his temper completely. Screw this, he could be in a motel somewhere eating pie!

Castiel slowly nodded and went over to Sam. Touching two fingers to the youngest Winchester's forehead, a white light glowed around Sam's head before slowly receding. Castiel stepped back just in time for Dean to see Sam's eyes flutter open.

"Sammy? Hey," He said, trying to get Sam to look at him, "You good?"

Sam pressed his palms against his eyes and groaned loudly, "I feel like someone has filled my head with methane and lit a match. That's how good I am,"

"Well, I always knew you were an airhead," Dean quipped weakly, relief flooding his body.

Still groaning, Sam sat up against the wall and glanced around, "Cas?"

Without a word, Cas dissapeared, leaving Sam staring at Dean in bewilderment.

"Dean, what the hell? What happened?"

"Well let me tell you brother, bullshit doesn't even begin to cover it,"

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**Ok, that's what I've got for now. Maybe I'll post more frequently (I really hope I can), but all I can really guarantee is that I will finish this story... eventually. Thanks for reading! Reviews are better than Halloween candy!**


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